USS Lexington
The USS Lexington was the lead ship of the Lexington-class battlecruisers, and the first battlecruiser commissioned by the US Navy. Almost immediately she was recognized as the "Yankee Hood", as she shared many design elements with the British Hood Class, including the Turret layout, and dual funnels. However, the Lexington was superior in the fact that she had heavier deck armor, and larger 16in guns, borrowed directly from the Colorado-class Battleship. She was commissioned with basket weave masts, one of the final classes to do so. However, during her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean, her forward mast was heavily damaged in a hurricane, to the point that it later collapsed. Luckily no one was hurt, but this led to US ships being refit with Tripod masts. In 1934, she would be refit with said Tripod masts, and have her forward deck be reinforced by 1.5in of steel. She would also have 8 Dual Purpose 5/38in turrets installed. During 1931, and 1937, she would be the flagship of the American Mediterranean fleet. In 1938, she underwent another modernization, being equipped with a brand new superstructure resembling that of the new South Dakota class ships. During 1938, she was sent as the flagship of the division of warships sent by the United States to the British Silver Jubillee. During this, she was extensively photographed, especially next to her British counterpart, HMS Hood. World War 2 On December 10th, 1941 she was leaving the British Isles. She had been sent to retrieve the the US Germany Ambassador, who had been flown out of Germany the previous day to GB, as a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. 25nmi outside of the Irish Coast, she was spotted by U-44. Thinking that this was the British HMS Hood, her captain Ferdinand Horch ordered the Launch of all 4 Torpedos. At 10:25am, a watchman spotted the Torpedo trails 15* off her port bow and raised alarm. Lexington turned hard to port as 3 of the Torpedos struck her port side. #1 Torpedo struck the between Turrets 1 and 2, while the #2 Torpedo struck dead center of the ship, and #3 Torpedo struck between turret 3 & 4. The flooding from the number 2 hit, quickly extinguished Lexington's Boilers, leading her to lose all electrical power. The Number 1 Torpedo blew a hole into her side, and lit a large fire. To prevent the Turrets from exploding, her barbettes were flooded. While this extinguished the fire, as the power went out, her pumps were not able to drain the water back out. She quickly rolled into a 25* list to port, before the Call to abandon ship was finally given at 11:35. Of the 1767 men onboard, 1245 men were able to escape, and would be pulled from the water by the British Battlecruiser HMS Renown and Heavy Cruiser HMS Valour. Among the dead was the Ambassador. At 11:52, the Lexington finally capsized and disappeared from view at 12:12. Germany fully believed that her U-boat had sunk the HMS Hood, and the following morning ran Papers claiming that she had sunk the Hood. However, when it was discovered that it was actually the USS Lexington, Adolf murdered the captain of U-44 in a fit of rage. 2 days later, the United States unanimously agreed to declare war on Germany. In 1973, USS Lexingtons Wreckage was rediscovered upright in 500m of water. Category:United States Navy Category:Battlecruiser